Apparatus for combing and feeding tobacco for making cigarettes and for other purposes



" Sept. 20, 1932.. 1 F, F, RUAU 1,878,328

APPARATUS FOR COMBING AND FEEDING TOBACCO FOR MAKING CIGARETTES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Filed Sept. 14, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. F. RUAU Sept. 20, 1932.

APPARATUS FOR COMBING AND FEEDING TOBACCO FOR MAKING GIGARETTES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Filed Sept. 14, 1925 rlII 11 I11 I llullll' 4 a Sheets-Sheet 2 lay/taro? Sept. 20, 1932. F. F. RUAU APPARATUS FOR COMBING AND FEEDING TOBACCO FOR MAKING CIGARETTES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Filed Sept. 14, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 20, 1932 UNIEI'IEDTSTATESS' FELIX FREDERIGVRUAU, or DEr'rronD, LONDON, ENGLAND, ssIGNoR ro MnoHINE co PA Y, LIMITED, on LoNDoN, ENGLAND PATENTFFOFFICE jf ;f

MomNs APPARATUSFOR GOMBING AND FEEDING TOBACCO FOR MAKING GIGARETTESAND' Y 7 a Y ron ornnn runrosns a e Application filed September 14, 1925, Serial No. 56,355,land in GreatBritain-tctober 24, 1924., f

This invention relates to an improved appart of the cigarette machine, and'a series of carded rollers, combsand brush rollers or their equivalents, so ,arranged-thatthe tobacco is subjected, preferably, to a double combing or regulatingtofsecure an uniform density, and is discharged without the employment of conveyor bands or the like; If desired, the'apparatus'may be arranged to 4 subject the tobacco to more than twocomb ings'before discharge;

Aside of the hopper may oscillation and suitable-means are provided for driving the various rollers.

Although' the "invention is particularly adaptedv for use with cigarette making'ma chines, it maybe applied for preparing tobacco for other-purposes. V I w To enable the invention to be fully understood it will now bedescri'bed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figurelis an elevation of one end of a hopper constructed according to the inven- 80 tion, showing the driving gear, and I I Figure 2 is an elevation of thei other end thereof. ,3-

Figure 3 is a d ia ammatic side elevation of the hopperpartly in section and without '85 the driving gear; I

' Figures 4,5and 6 areviews ofdetails.

4, which may be oflwood, a back plate 5, and various drums and rollers mounted between the endframesrj Thedrums and rollers form 5 the front wall of'the hopper, and the tobacco to.be;treated' isplaced between the ba' 5andthexdrumsand rollers. 1.

Referring'first to Figure 3, 'inawhich the various drums "and rollers are shown diagrammatically. p

be mounted for I ck plate,

The tobacco fed bya feed roller- 1 6 r otating in the direction of the arrow A' to al cardedroller 7 which in turnfeeds it up i wards jpast another carded roller 8. The roller 6 is preferably a plain metal or wooden. 5 roller and the cardinglon' roller. 8 is Tprefer ably finer than that onroller 7 A scraper 9 is provided engagingthe feed roller 6 to prevent tobacco from passing. out; betweenrollersfi and 7.

' The second carded roller Sacts as a brush-, ing roller rotating in such a manner astobru'sh back the superfluous tobacco which, is being fed by roller 7, thus controlling the quantity offtobaccowhich passes. ,A. combf f 10 shown in ,deta iliin Figures t and ,5 holds the tobacco which has passed out on to the surface of roller 7. Shortly afterwards the tobacco is removed from this roller by a picker roller 11, and drops-down vonto the surface of another roller-12 furnished with radial teeth or inclined teeth, orpreferably carded, which is mounted near'the discharge. orifice. This roller 12 preferably rotatesat a'somewhat slower speedpthan the first carded roller 7, so that thetobaccois picked therefrom '1 in fringes" and the: successive fringes are spread over the distributor, roller 12in overlapping layers. I Asmall roller 13, preferably plain, holds the tobacco onto roller 12 and" a comb' 14; mounted beneath the roller assists'thisopera tion; The teeth of the comb are preferably of a springy nature so that theconibpresses evenly'all along the roller.' Y 5" f A small picking or brushing roller 15 re-fl Figure 7 is a diagrammatic View showing moves'the tobacco from roller 12, and in the V method of operating the backof the hopper.

As shown,the hopper comprises end frames 2, held together by tie rods 3, side piecescase of a 'cigarette -making 'machine, {the tobacco drops into a trough 16 havinga nar row orifice'l7, beneath jwhich the cigarette 90,

paper or tape of the cigarette machine travels; I

In order to assist the passage of the tobacco through the orifice17,the sides of the trough 16 maybe vibrated ifdesired,'as shown in Figure 2 for example. In this'arrangement,

.pins 81 are fitted on the face, of-a sprocket.

so: i

. carrying a striker 84 at its other end which vibratesthe trough, the s ring 85 returning the lever 82 as will be un erstood.

Abovethe roller 8 a shaft 18 is mounted carrying two flaps l9 of leather. or similar material which brush-back any tobacco clinging to the carding and return it to the mass in the hopper.

The means be described-by reference toLFigure 1.

A pulley 20 mounted on the end frameof the hopper, is-driven by a belt 21 from a suitable source of power through a ratchetclutch 22. This arrajngement enables the rest of the machine of which the-hopper forms a part to be turned backwards without moving the a which in turn drivesa wheel 29. The wheels. 28, 2 9 are detachable, forming change wheels su to the cigarette machine.

lo ked t25a- I r.

The drive is transmitted from the pulley,

hopperrollers.

The belt 21 is kept taut bya jockey roller 23 and'a spring 24, Ithetension of'the latter being adjusted by ahandle 2 5, which may be 20' through a gear wheel 26 on the pulley. shaft, to a wheel 27 secured t a wheel 28 for varying the speedof the hopper relatively Secured to the spindle 53 of wheel'29 is a} small wheel 30- which transmits the motion to a gear wheel 31,,the spindle of the lattercarry'ing'a gear wheel'32 and a sprocket wheel 33'. p r

The spindleof drum 7 carries agear'wheel 32a which .is driven by 'tllflWllGGliidQ and a ch'ai'n34con'nects the sprocket wheel- 38 to a sprocket wheel on the spindle of the plain roller 13.

* Tl ie f picker rollers and 15 are driven from the pulley 20 by a pulley 26 secured thereto, throughthe mediuin of a belt3I 'jand' pulleys 38, 39' on the spindles of the rollers.

An adjustable jockeypulley 40 isinterposed' asshown. c On the pulley 38 is mounted a pulley 41, whichfdrives the top shaft 18 on whichthe. leatherflaps 19 are mounted by meansof'belt 43am pulley 44.

Several of the smallerrollers are adjusts] able; for example, the roller 11 is carried in bearingsin quadrants 45, whichare, pivoted.

at' 46, and locked in position by screws 47 and-theother rollers may be similarly mounted. l -The'.driving gear for the remaining drums and rollers will now be described with referencetoFigureQ. Y

A sprocket wheel 48 on drum 7, which is drivenby gears as already described, is .con-

nected to sprocket Wheels 49,50 on drums 12 and 6uby a chain 51,achain tightenerl52i'beg ing provided; I 1

' The shaft 5 3, Figure lg-o'n' which-gears 29, 30 are mounted passes' through to the-end frame 2, and carries iajcranlr pin 54. A con necting rod 55 .attachedto the crank pin 54 for driving the feed roller roller 7, rollers 11,15 and shaft 18 will now driven lngis linked at itsother end to an oscillating arm 56 carrying a pawl 57 This pawl 57 engages a ratchet wheel 58 on the spindle of thetop drum 8, so that the latter rotates intermittently, the drum :being held byi a' retaining pawl or detent 59- as shown.

The back plate 5 of the hopper may be moved to press the tobacco. continuously into arrangement:

contact" with thefeedroller by the following 'lheback-bwhich is preferably of wood is carried on metal stays 60, secured upon a spindle 61,.rotating in bearings 62. On one end of the spindle 61 a quadrantb having ratchet teeth is fitted and a pawl 64, operated from the spindle of drum- 7,'engagesthe teeth and gradually swings-up the back plat 5 .t g

locking pawl 65. 'is

the vertical position. also provided.

- The pawl 64 is hereshown-as pivoted about} mid-way of link 68,'but this positio-nmay'be; varied-to alter the rate of feeding. J

v The combs 1'0, '14- are'mounted in bearings '70 in the frames and are fitted at-on'eend'with' *levers 71. Springs '72 attached to. the levers keep the combs inengagement with the cardeddrums'. Th'eitop cardeddrum-Sis mounted in adjustable bearingsito enable the space through swhichxthe tobaccd passes to be varied, and a brakeband 7 8'isalsozfitted tosprevent overrunning: 'i The drum 8 may rotate continuouslyif desired. 1 1 In Figure 6 an alternative method of movingsthe hopper back plate 5 isshowna Thev platebisi'hinged' at 74 and a rm; 7.5 which;

is slowly rotated byzratchet, gear-presses the? back forward as previously described.

:In addition to this,i.an;os cillating motion; is imparted to the. ho perbackby means ofarack bar-:7 6, oneen of,whichqis' connected to a: crank pin 78 on' a; cra nk -.7;9,--the teeth of the rack engaging aib iif: 7 On th h pper wa'r-ds and. in-conjunctionwithbthe weight, causes the hopper back tooscillate',

I Each timethe ratchet gear moves the back inwards, the bar 77 moves forward one tooth of the rack and'continues tooscillate.

What I claim as my invention and; desire to secure byLettersPatent is r in combination with a positively i driven carded f combing roller, a: second positively driven roller adapted to brush superfluous tobacco from the surface of the said ,icombing roller, a positively driven distributor in the The pawl 64 is pivoted to a,linki68,-pivotedat 69- and connected by a rod 67 to a crank 1: An apparatus .fonfe'eding tobacco to a a cigarettemaking machine which comprises,

form of a carded roller mounted below and forwardly of the said combing roller, a yieldingly controlled comb'adapted to bear upon the forward portion of said; combing roller, a picker roller located above said distributor and adapted to mesh with the teeth of said comb, and a picker roller and comb mounted directly above the trough of the, machine and in operative engagement with the distributor w for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

2. Apparatus for feeding tobacco to a filling trough of a continuous rod type cigarette machine comprising, in combination, a carded combing roller adapted to receive a supply.

of tobacco, means for removing the tobacco from said combing roller, and .a carded distributing roller for receivin the removed tobacco directly from the com ing roller and delivering the same directly anduniformly 2 to the filling trough of the machineg 3. Apparatus for feeding tobacco to a filling trough of a continuous rod type cigarette machine comprising, in combination, a card ed combing roller adapted to receive a supply of tobacco, a picker roller for removing the tobacco from said combing roller, a conveyor comprising a carded distributing roller interposed between the combing roller and the filling trough for receiving the removed tobacco directly from the combing roller, and

a picker roller mounted above the filling trough for removing tobacco from the corn veyor to the trough. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 3 hand.

FELIX FREDERIG RUAU.

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